Chosen of the Spider Queen, Driders are bloodthirsty creatures that lurk in the depths of the world, servants of Lolth gifted with a semblance of their god’s grotesque form. In drow society, the strongest and bravest can take the brutal Test of Lolth, where those who succeed become driders, members of a privileged caste. At the end of an extremely painful transformation, a chosen drow takes on the semblance of a centaur-like creature with the lower body of a giant spider. The erstwhile dark elf develops a deadly, poisonous bite, and finds a new thirst for the blood of living creatures. Those who fail the test, but still survive, are shamed and cast away from the cruel drow society.

Driders are commonly found among drow communities, and as powerful as they may be, are still subservient to Lolth’s priests. Important drow operations might involve one or more driders and other spider-like creatures. Driders conspire with drow to subjugate all those who don’t revere their Spider Queen. In the foreboding Underdark, they gather in settlements of macabre splendor, lit by luminescent flora and magic, and crawling with spiders.

Driders are vicious opponent in battle, snaring foes in their webs and rushing up to administer poisonous bites if their opponents are successfully restrained. They have also been known to use greatswords and other weapons with great proficiency, while some driders, named shadowspinners, have been gifted with darkness attacks and other spell-like abilities. The webs of driders are their most potent weapons, as they can easily distract or disorganize an entire group of adventurers, allowing the monsters and their drow allies to gain the upper hand.

Driders are often found among drow settlements in and around the Underdark near Neverwinter. Reports have been whispered of their presence in Rothé Valley, near Neverwinter Wood, while the Guild of Underdark Guides has seen them deep in the Whispering Caverns of the Northdark. The presence of such creatures suggests that the drow world is in turmoil, and that something treacherous is afoot in the Northdark.

Here is what is disgusting about the lore the new lore BS, the current designers at WoC wouldn't even have a job if not for the forefathers before them establishing the lore. The man such as Ed Greenwood, Gary Gygax, Jeff Grub and many others put in on this and established the world, instead of being petulant little children these new designers at WoC should make up their own stuff to add to the Forgotten Realms instead of showing disrespect to those before them who established the world and changing what is put in place. If it aint broke dont fix it.

The primary issue here is players who are angered by the 180 degree turn-around in lore (aka dridders being turned into Lolth's saints when in all previous DnD official publications they were the intimate punishment) is one of the main reasons for the complete failure of DnD 4th Edition. The tossing out of some 30 years of established history coupled with a massive system change has lead to the success of other gaming companies such as Piazo (Pathfinder). Now there is “DnD Next” an apology and hopeful fix of much of what has caused WoTC to lose it's standing

I find it funny the Salvatore books keep getting mentioned.
Guys, those were based on a *setting.* The setting has been *updated.* Don't accuse these guys of not knowing the lore; do some research and look things up instead of flinging blame. Guess what? 4e changed a lot around. I suggest reading into it before flailing about lore and 'but in the Drizzt books!' Besides, not everyone read those books, far preferring to stick with the setting itself rather than an interpretation of it. The character was unbelievably bland anyways.

But if you think about it, for a drow, the chance to serve the spider queen goddess might very well be seen as the ultimate honor, thus being transformed into a Dryder (kinda like personal guards) would then be one of the highest priviledge a drow could attain. Just sayin... ehhe.. :)

Second edition, Ed Greenwood spelled it out in FOR2 9326, the Drow of the Underdark, that the transformation into a drider was for failing the test of loyalty to Lolth. I'm sure they could have changed it in newer editions but likely that just lack of research. Poor planning.

Even the newer Neverwinter Saga (4E) novels have driders as outcast abominations that Qu'ellar Xorlarrin is duping into serving their interests by promising them an equal place in the new society they hope to establish in Gauntlgrym... This is one of the changes I do not approve of. Who is writing all this new ill-informed Realmslore at Wizards now? They need to read current canon before developing new, absurd lore...

I'm sure everyone is right here. Yes it used to be a punishment. BUT dont forget the crazy stuff that happend in war of the spider queen. MAYBE after Loth's rebirth she had some new ideas? Its not as crazy as it sounds. Both the old and the new lore are compatible.

I ready almost all of the Salvatore books, and according to the author that created them the drider is a punishment. If you read the war of the spiderqueen books you will also see this. I don't understand why D and D did this. I would imagine they changed it to make the driders more powerful than if they were just animalistic. Looks like they put a bunch of detail into them.

Thank god someone finally mentions Salvatore. I grew up reading his books. So when I saw that the game designers thought that the drider was a reward and not a punishment..I was pissed. The least the designers could do is read the books they are basing the game off of.

Cryptic got the description right.
According to the Forgotten realms Wiki (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Drider):
"Once a promising drow reaches 6th level, a high-level priestesses in good standing with Lolth may test the drow's loyalty to the Queen of Spiders. If the promising drow fails the test, he or she will be transformed into a drider, (However this has changed from a punishment to a blessing according to the Dungeons

Hey, just a quick note: As of the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the transformation into a Drider isn't a punishment anymore - it is considered a blessing instead. The MM however, does not say anything regarding the near animalistic behavior we used to know from previous editions. Considering it is now a blessing, I'd say that Driders retain all their intelligence after transformation.
As a sidenote, parts of the posting are directly taken from the Monster Manual 4e!

Please read the books before posting these backgrounds, Driders are drow cursed by lolth, they live in terrible conditions and they are slaves to the drows, the course even make them more stupid than before, I'm very surprise some of them can be a spellcaster. I know R A Salvatore wrote more than 20 books, but at least to have person that know the basic of all the facts in the all company would be nice!!!!!

in ALL of the drizzt duorden novels, a drider was an individual that has failed drow society, and the individual was forced into its new form as a drastic punishment by the Matron of the family or other high priestess. the new form was a bloated caricature of the elven form it once was with drastically reduced personality and intelligence. it basically gained animal level intelligence, and lost all willpower, becoming a completely subservient slave to the priestess that converted it, with minor animalistic outbursts of attempts at free will. if i remember correctly, drizzts brother was made into one (could be wrong though.. been a while). however saying all that it is POSSIBLE that in the newer d